81–90 of 224 posts
I don't think Italy is a great place to do business, but it's a good place to live in many ways. They've got something similar that might be of interest to the right person http://italiastartupvisa.mise.gov.it/#ISVhome
That website is compeltrly broken on mobile. Is there another link with a summary of the program. (The link jumps erratically, and completely breaks the back button)
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IIRC, you now get the "foreigner card" during immigration. You still have to register at the local ward, though.
You get the card at the airport, but it's useless without the stamp. Can confirm that the dependency graph stated by the parent is a (the?) correct way to navigate the system. The only thing I'd modify is that you can save money by bringing your own phone, and getting a phone+data SIM card from Bic, which you can set up on a recurring plan with a foreign credit card.
The problem with the phone+data sim thing is that you need an actual callable phone number, a lot of the time. Also, you can tell what numbers are used for in Japan by how they start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_numbers_in_Japan#Non... , and some places will be sticklers about it.
One sad/funny thing is that I actually needed a phone number to get a place to live as well, but actually my agent just used their own temporarily (literally right in front of the leasing agent, and they didn't care). I get the feeling that if you get a place from abroad they'll overlook that/work that out somehow, even if you don't have an agent that was as understanding/nice/flexible as mine.
As an "entrepreneur" (closer to a freelancer/independent contractor, self employed through a company I created) that's currently living in Japan, a few notes: - Things get a lot easier when a Japanese person is involved. - Paperwork pain will be real, hire someone else to do it. Japan is almost completely about the appearance of propriety -- getting everything filled out properly is 90% of the difficulty. - Hire a ch…
> (you never become a citizen if you're not japanese).
This is not true. Japan has a very clear path to citizenship. If fact, you need 10 years consecutive residency to get permanent residency, but you only need 5 years to get citizenship. You have to give up any other nationalities.
This site gives lots more information: http://www.turning-japanese.info/
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You get the card at the airport, but it's useless without the stamp. Can confirm that the dependency graph stated by the parent is a (the?) correct way to navigate the system. The only thing I'd modify is that you can save money by bringing your own phone, and getting a phone+data SIM card from Bic, which you can set up on a recurring plan with a foreign credit card.
Yeah, it's been so long that I actually forgot the proper (I think) way to go through it, and that it was actualy easier for me because I had contacts/friends willing to help. The problem with the phone+data sim thing is that you need an actual callable phone number, a lot of the time. Also, you can tell what numbers are used for in Japan by how they start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_numbers_in_Japan#Non…
I never had issues with anyone being snobby about the number, but I was in a bigger city, so maybe I had it easy.
(My sad/funny story was that in order to cancel the recurring phone payment, I needed to receive a text message to the phone number I was cancelling. But I had left the country by that point, and the SIM didn't work for international SMS. So I was screwed. I just told my credit card company to reject the recurring billing, and thus I'm probably blackballed from all future SIM-card purchasing in Japan.)
Slightly off topic. But this Japanese program sounds totally dressing and covered in tape. If you work remote and are completely self sufficient is there any country that will just let you live there?
As an "entrepreneur" (closer to a freelancer/independent contractor, self employed through a company I created) that's currently living in Japan, a few notes: - Things get a lot easier when a Japanese person is involved. - Paperwork pain will be real, hire someone else to do it. Japan is almost completely about the appearance of propriety -- getting everything filled out properly is 90% of the difficulty. - Hire a ch…
Your post has a lot of great information in, but I must take issue with: > (you never become a citizen if you're not japanese). This is not true. Japan has a very clear path to citizenship. If fact, you need 10 years consecutive residency to get permanent residency, but you only need 5 years to get citizenship. You have to give up any other nationalities. This site gives lots more information: http://www.turning-japa…
The relevant page: http://www.turning-japanese.info/p/steps.html
While it looks pretty involved, it is certainly possible, and I didn't know that, much appreciated.
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Silicon valley -> Tokyo expat here. It took me Just like anything, there's right and wrong ways to do it. If you do it the traditional way with a japanese speaking landlord who mistrust foreigners, yes it can be hard. That is a significant portion of the market. One thing I will say, there are real estate companies that actually cater to foreigners. This has been my landlord for a year and I just renewed: http://toky…
>This process is hard but not as nightmarish as people who don't live in the country reading articles make it sound. Agree wholeheartedly. Been living in Fukuoka myself for the past two years, and I cannot help but notice that the foreign population here has been steadily growing. Although the city is marketing themselves to be the new Startup hub in Japan, I still think it has to be as global as say, Tokyo, to catch…
The city has definitely been pushing hard for foreign startups but the changes they are making are only baby steps and PR in my opinion. I thought it was rather strange that the press conference held by the mayor to promote foreign startups had to have an interpreter because the mayor couldn't manage any English and the foreign entrepreneurs on stage didn't speak Japanese.
Good luck finding a place to rent.
Silicon valley -> Tokyo expat here. It took me Just like anything, there's right and wrong ways to do it. If you do it the traditional way with a japanese speaking landlord who mistrust foreigners, yes it can be hard. That is a significant portion of the market. One thing I will say, there are real estate companies that actually cater to foreigners. This has been my landlord for a year and I just renewed: http://toky…